Tuesday, January 27, 2009

WOW! Could they be any more arrogant?

Oh Yeah.... I guess its not an election year!

There were some pretty funny sound bites coming from City Hall this week. ( In fact, it was so odd, you could not make this stuff up!)

Alderman Joe ( Man of the people) Connelly takes the cake this week. When asked what effect the Alderman 5.5% pay raise would have on negotiations with other City of Calgary employees, he was quoted in the Calgary Sun as saying:

"If I want to go be a bus driver, then I'm going to go be a bus driver. If there's any bus driver out there that's upset, well, then run for politics next time, run for politics in two years and hopefully you'll get there and hopefully you'll be making more money than a bus driver." "Come and run against me, that's the way it works." He also added "You get what you pay for." "The deal is if you want better politicians you've got to pay them better money. Bottom line, that's where it sits."

Wow...... I wonder if Mr. Connelly would have made such a bold, arrogant statement during an election year? I hope that the residents of Ward 6 take his comments to heart, as I would be embarrassed to have him representing my riding. I bet those residents thought they got a better representative when they voted out Craig Burrows in 2007.

Alderman Gord Lowe: A real sweet quote this week, in response to the public reaction to the proposed salary increase... " The Public will forget about this by next week and they'll be angry about something else."

Funny? Yes... ( But so true in Calgary Politics.)

Alderman John Mar: This was a funny story... $210,000 public outhouses? He wants to see more of them, but he isn't sure if the economic timing is right? How out of touch can you be? This just stinks...( I could not resist!)

Mayor Dave Bronconnier: In response to a vote on revisiting the salary increase... " If they want to look at it, that's fine. I certainly wasn't going to support it."

This is a typical response from our fine mayor. If he had any leadership qualities at all, he would have taken the lead and voted against the increase. After all, does he really need it? It is reported that he is sitting on a $300,000 "campaign war chest" that will likely go right into his personal bank account ( which is perfectly legal under City Election rules) once he retires from city politics. Spend that raise wisely Bronco...its likely the last you will get from the voters of Calgary.